1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to water softener systems, and more particularly, to valves for controlling the flow of fluids to the system's water softener tank.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The ion exchange media of water softener tanks are typically regenerated by brine solutions. Additionally, it is often necessary to add a secondary chemical solution to further treat the ion exchange medium and/or the tank containing the ion exchange medium. In the past, the addition of these secondary fluids often was done by manually inserting a batch-wise plug of fluid directly into the water softener tank or into the brine being fed to the tank. This method of secondary chemical solution addition had several problems. Most importantly, it did not allow a combined mixture of brine and secondary chemical to continuously flow through and regenerate the water softener tank. This batch-type addition quickly flowed through the water softener tank and often did not provide adequate time for the secondary chemical solution to reside and react in the tank to adequately achieve its purpose.